vault66 | MONTH 3 LOG

Entry tags:

MONTH 3 LOG

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: Vault 66
WHEN: Month 3
WHAT: The pods and the vault door opens
WARNINGS: Violence, likely language

AWAKENING

You awake laying on your back in an, admittedly comfortable, pod. You can't move anything but your eyes, can't even feel your body yet. How you got here or why is a blank. You may have been in the middle of your day, asleep, or even- for what you remember- should be dead. Then a screen directly in front of your face flickers to life and in crisp, black and white displays: DON'T PANIC. The following video then plays:

Watch on YouTube

The screen flickers again and reads: CONGRATULATIONS ON PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE! WELCOME TO VAULT LIFE, CITIZEN. WELCOME TO YEAR: [ERROR]. YOUR PERSONAL BELONGINGS ARE LOCATED IN [FILE CORRUPTED. SEE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR]. ENJOY YOUR STAY AND THANK YOU FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT VAULT-TEC.

The pod then unseals and you are able to, unstably at first, climb out of the pod. Your body may feel foreign for a moment- perhaps entirely foreign if you suddenly find yourself a human, ghoul, or super mutant for the first time. But whatever your form, you have two items on: a bright blue jumpsuit with the number 66 in yellow on the back, and a mechanical device known as a Pip-boy sealed onto your arm. If you click on the buttons it takes you to an instruction screen.

You look around to find yourself in a room of other pods. Some are just opening, other people looking as confused as you climbing out. Others remain closed with the status of 'STASIS' on the screens attached to the pods. The rest of the room is less than impressive. Computer systems that seem out of place compared to the technology level of the pods are scattered across the room, apparently running the chambers. Trying to access them, even for the most talented hacker, will simply result in SEE OVERSEER being displayed. There is large metal door leading to the rest of the vault, a lever on the wall next to it that will cause it to open.

Welcome, dweller, to vault 66.

VAULT OPENING, THE CELEBRATION

It’s finally here, at long last. In the lead up to the Vault opening, Louis has turned the recreation area into a celebration. It comes with a modest feast! A whole cake, some tasty cola, and grilled meat (if you helped kill the radroaches or mole rats, you know where that meat came from). He even found some old party decorations that were supposed to be used when the Vault was unsealed after the war. The original party, of course, was supposed to be a few hundred years ago. The colors are faded and it’s horribly water stained, but the HAPPY VAULT DAY banner still holds. There are even party hats, for the particularly festive.

The event starts first thing in the morning and will last until early afternoon, when the Overseer announces it’s time to gather in the entry way for the main event.

WARRANTY FORFEIT IF UNSEALED

The time has finally come for the Vault to open. After walking down a corridor of rusted and corroded radiation scanners and security terminals, characters are face to face with the ground level of a huge elevator shaft. At the very top, the four yard thick monstrosity of a door that has sealed the Vault closed for several hundred years. Despite its age, the old girl is as functional as the day she was made. Looking up from the bottom of the shaft, characters can see an intricate formation of deadbolts, gears, and other machinery holding the door in place.

Captain Simmons, the robot in charge himself, has come out to do the honors of opening the door. At an innocuous enough computer station, he plugs in the very tip of one of his three robotic arms to begin the unlocking sequence. What follows is a good minute of flashing lights, warnings that the door is being unsealed, and the grind of machinery as the locking mechanism unengages. The large, gear shaped door at the very top of the elevator shaft pulls back slightly, turns, then begins its descent down towards the gathered group. Make sure you’re not directly under it, Vault-Tec did not install any safety mechanisms to stop the door/platform from crushing anyone standing beneath it.

The door isn’t the only thing that comes down, however. The moment the door begins to lower, water rushes in after it. From the sudden activation of all pip-boys in the area, characters can instantly determine this is heavily irradiated water. It pours in until there is roughly two feet of the stuff on the floor of the entry way, then finally seems done. As if this weren’t enough, however, things come in with the water. Most of them small, about the size of your average radroach, scampering around and jumping at whatever source of fresh meat they can reach. There’s about half a dozen of these hatchlings. Two of them, however, are huge. Standing at about six feet tall, they look like a cross between a gigantic horse-shoe crab and an alien invader: mirelurks. And they aren’t pleased to find themselves suddenly stuck in a Vault.

Simmons immediately starts shooting and hovering away from the group, trying to distract the creatures from the gathered characters. Fighting may solve the problem, assuming no one is killed in the process. Fleeing back into the Vault, closing the heavy entrance door, and just letting the things starve to death for a few weeks is certainly an option. As is rushing the elevator and getting the hell out of the Vault while Simmons is distracted, but whether you’ll ever get back in again unknown. Whether you help, run away, let them kill Simmons then help, or another choice entirely is up to you.

Happy Vault opening day!

GENERAL EXPLORING

Remember the rest of the vault awaits. This includes the three Mr. Handy’s and a Mr. Gutsy floating around, as well as more radroaches and mole rats wandering around the many corpses/blood splatter patterns.

OOC NOTES

To talk to a specific NPC one-on-one, leave a comment on their thread below.

Looking for loot in a specific area? Looking for a specific item/kinds of item in general? Ask here and we’ll let you know.

If you have any OOC questions, please leave a comment here!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Eh," Yunlan said, with a wave of his hand, "considering all the bones around the place, it was probably dropped in the last extremities of battle! Or it was a prop."

He considers his glass, with a faint air of drama, and knocks back another swallow. "Carbonation's great. I'm sure they'd love it back where you're from -- it's a big hit where I'm from, anyway."

Could they go home? Well, obviously, no. He was agnostic on the topic of whether any of their homes were even real the way they remembered them, but why be a killjoy just for the hell of it? People needed hope, and in extremis even stupid hope would do.

"I assure you, it's quite real." She countered proudly, misunderstanding perhaps his use of the word prop.

"Well, other then your significant others, What's something you miss about home that you'd like to try and recreate here if whatever we find on the surface allows it?"

"Decent fashion, take-out noodles, beer, cigarettes and candy," Yunlan shot back instantly, ticking each point off on a finger. "You? Other than bathrobes and good mattresses."

"I'll agree with at least half of those." She mused about how long it had been since she'd had some good spicy noodles.

"It's the simply pleasures I miss from living in the palace. Comfortable fabrics, having my hair and nails tended to by adoring servants, fresh fruit."

Adoring might be a stretch but she was at least being honest about the rest of it.

"Less 'servants' and more 'barbershop,' but ugh, haircuts," Yunlan agreed, tone mournful. He reached up, ruffling a mop of hair that had gone from stylish to shaggy. He wasn't even going to mention the patchy mess that was his beard. "And what I wouldn't give for a decent razor."

"Don't knock servants until you've had them. Less fortunates always act like they're too good for it until someone brings them a perfectly chilled drink on a day where it's too warm to move."

Honestly, these poor people would never understand how much she'd lost. Why was she even trying?

"I believe Charlotte was offering to help with that sort of thing." She offered with a teasing smirk. "But I prefer longer hair as it is, chopping it off makes you look weak."

Shen Wei was the furthest thing in the world from a servant -- on his most arrogant days Yunlan liked to think of them as equals -- but there was only one association he had with being taken care of like that, and it caught him by surprise. For a moment, his expression was unguarded, twisting with grief.

He looked away from her and rubbed a hand hard over his mouth, forcing his lips back under control.

"Eh, I like the look of long hair, but speaking of servants it is a pain to take care of solo."

Azula's eyebrow rose with interest. Somehow she'd hit a nerve without meaning to.

She was good at that back home. Nice to see some skills were transferable.

"Well if you're looking for an offer I'd try the robots or Chocolat. The last time I tried to trim my own hair I wound up making a mess of it." she confessed reaching up to tug on her bangs and make sure they were even.

They were more or less. Close enough for now.

"Perhaps if there are any plants still alive on the surface we can start working on a conditioner to restore our hair to how it should be. Not that I know how of course but that's what the robots are for."

She was giving him the eyebrow, but-- thank god-- she didn't look inclined to follow it up with awkward sympathy or pointed questions. Discretion in a teenager, how about that?

"Sure, Louis might have some herbal conditioner recipes," he said with a vague wave of one hand. "I sure as hell don't know what might work. Henna's a plant, right?"

"I think I've heard of it yes." She sighed and pouted.

"It does seem like the more time we spend here the more skills and information we seem to be lacking. Do you suppose it was intentional that the first ones released from the pods were the ones least capable at crafting and building and...domestics?"

Thank the spirits for the cooking robot and Chocolat's strange compulsion to clean.

"Hey! -- no, I can't even pretend I had a good domestic education." He dismissed the idea with an impatient click of tongue against teeth. "There's robots for that around here! I'm gonna guess they just didn't think we'd need those skills."

It was a good thing they had robots for that. Yunlan'd still managed to accumulate a nest of random junk around the bed he'd picked in the men's bunk room; no one had complained yet and so he felt no urge to make an effort. Besides, it helped the place feel more homey.

"Anyway, who knows how to make herbal conditioner out of actual herbs these days?"

"For a group smart enough to create robots and underground lairs, they overlooked a number of basics." She mused but took comfort that he wasn't that much better at domestic life.

"What else would you make it out of? Fruit?" She looked genuinely unsure. It's not like anyone had ever tried to teach her how cleaning products were made.

"Maybe? My shampoo back home was strawberry." He wrinkles his nose, casting his mind back to the soap-making the old grannies had done back in camp, back in the past. "I... think you can make it with ashes and oil? Soap, anyway."

What you did with the ashes and oil, other than mix them, he had no idea. Water might be involved somewhere.

"Whatever!" he declared, memory proving too slippery. He'd never bothered to pay attention to all those little domestic tasks that went into keeping an army fed, well and on their feet. He'd never expected to wind up away from the comforts of modern life again, after all. "If the robots don't know, maybe there are people still alive up there who've figured it out."

"People who we will keep at an arms length until we know we can trust them." She agreed suddenly settling a stern look at Zhao.

"I've been meaning to discuss this with you. Your...positive attitude. You're far too friendly you know that? And while that may prove useful in getting us supplies we need or information I think it's in our best interest that we don't lead people back to the Vault just yet. Wouldn't you agree?"

She had just had visions of Zhao inviting groups of mutants and zombie-like creatures to pop by for a free vault suit and to eat all their food.

"Princess," Yunlan said dryly, "I'm an easygoing man, not a stupid one. Besides, you know what they say about friendship!"

He reached over to pat her shoulder, grin going sharp at the edges. "A man who's friendly with everyone has no true friends. Want any more of that barbecue? I'm going to grab myself a plate."

She jerked back to avoid the shoulder pat. On the one hand she was relieved he wasn't a complete moron...on the other hand she was not entirely convinced.

"Fine, bring me more so that I can enjoy what might be our last meal depending on what waits for us on the surface."

Meanwhile she can sit back and contemplate just how lonely he must see himself if a quote like that springs to his mind so easily.

Yunlan barks a laugh, converting the pat into a wave as he heads for the table under its faded, water-stained banner.

"One last meal, coming up!"

The meat had a gamy, unpleasant odor that even the fairly decent preparation couldn't hide; roach and rat wasn't exactly pork or duck. Maybe there'd be less horrible game outside. Maybe it wouldn't all be radioactive.

Probably it would all be mutated into some awful, unrecognizable form, given the vermin they'd seen so far, but that didn't mean it was still radioactive.

A few minutes later, he returned with two plates of the grilled meat, holding one out to Azula.

"There you go. Hey -- at least we're in no danger of starving down here."

"Starved for entertainment perhaps. I think I've heard these songs enough times I've memorized the lyrics."

And while she didn't hate all the music, it wasn't her style. She took the food offered and settled in to eat before pausing and studying it curiously.

"I'm still learning about radiation and what it can do, but if it is in the meat we eat and the fluids we're drinking...would it kill us or would we build up an immunity over time like other poisons?"

"You're not the only one. I should organize that karaoke night." He takes a bite of his own food before pulling the stick away from his mouth and considering the roach meat impaled on it.

"Best guess? -- I'm not an expert, but from what I remember, the more radiation you get, the worse it gets. Extra bad if you get a lot all at the same time! But mostly? Little bits over a long time just give you cancer."

His smile wasn't amused. He took another bite of the roach meat anyway.

"It kills you slower than starvation."

"Well isn't that just delightful."

Her stomach had suddenly knotted up and she tried to drown it by taking another long drink.

"Safe to assume Cancer is some kind of illness. We'll have to ask Charlotte if she has a medicine for it since apparently she can treat the poisoning without much difficulty."

Yunlan paused. "Ah. Yeah. Yeah, it's an illness." Sometimes he was still tripped up by the differences in their worlds; hadn't cancer always been around? When had it been discovered? He had no idea.

He shrugged, one-shouldered. "It's the one where lumps grow on you. And who knows, maybe they do have a treatment for it, if they can treat radiation exposure. That's something they couldn't do a great job of back where I'm from."

"Every time I think I've hit my threshold for bodily horror you let me know there's potential for so much more. I should really just stop asking questions if I plan to sleep ever again."

But she knew she couldn't do that. Information was the best weapon she had.

And sleep opened her up to far too many attacks and dangers that she couldn't fight back.

"Eh," Yunlan shrugged. "There's bigger things to worry about here. Cancer's no fun, getting your face clawed off by a twelve-foot-tall crab is no fun, and then there's whatever the fuck this place's scientists did to those people who turned out like the thing we let out of the lab...."

He pulled a face. "You know, I'll be honest, I don't sleep that well these days. Guess we just have to keep our focus on our daily tasks!"

"Guess we have that in common." she nods feeling the weight of her exhaustion pressing in on her. She took another drink because by god she was going to the surface today if it killed her.

Spoilers: She would neither die nor make it to the surface today.

"I stopped being able to sleep well before coming here." She confessed softly and then gave him a pointed look that was meant as a warning. Tell another soul and she would make him regret it.

"After the throne was stolen from me I was locked away in a cell. Bound so I could not firebend or defend myself against any who thought they might enjoy their newfound power over me. I thought I would sleep better without the straight jacket but here we are."

And that was it. Follow up questions may be considered but even sharing that much was a feat of emotional fortitude she didn't think she had in her.

But even if Yunlan used that information against her...she found herself struggling to care.

The straitjacket? Yunlan made a noncommittal noise, eyeing her sidelong. No wonder she was twitchy. What he was wondering, now, was what kind of behavior from someone with fire-related powers got them deposed and thrown in a cell with their powers restrained.

It could just have been that she'd had power someone else wanted, of course. Or her nation could have lost its war. Mere brutality and injustice, from a princess, probably wouldn't have been enough to get her locked up.

Maybe it was unfair to judge other monarchies by the example of Dixing, but hey, it was the only one he'd observed in person.

After a moment, he shrugged, and finished off his skewer of barbecue in a final bite.

"You know, I've been lucky enough to dodge getting locked up much so far. It helped that the Dixing invaders showed up right around the time the Ministry put a warrant out for me!

"But just because something's over doesn't mean you're over it."

MONTH 3 LOG

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crabs = rats, this thread is too early for giant crabs!!

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